Hyrule Warriors II (ACL)
, Existence Software |publisher= (outside Japan), (Japan) |genre=Action |modes=1-2 players (local play) 1-4 players (LAN / online play) |ratings=ESRB: Teen CERO: C PEGI: 16 |platforms=Nintendo Switch |series=''The Legend of Zelda'' spin-off, spin-off, |prev='' '' (2016) }} Hyrule Warriors II (Japanese: ゼルダ無双﻿２ ) is the sequel to the 2016 3DS title Hyrule Warriors Legends released for the Nintendo Switch. Hyrule Warriors II features elements that make the title more akin to the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors titles on which Hyrule Warriors II is based. Like its predecessors, Hyrule Warriors II is considered non-canon to the Zelda chronology, and draws aspects from various Zelda video games. Story Synopsis After the events of Hyrule Warriors Legends, Hyrule entered a state of peace. The monsters summoned by Cia had disappeared, Ganon had once again been sealed away, and the eras that had once been connected to the present had separated once more. Hyrule began rebuilding after the monsters damaged the land, and the Hyruleans returned to their normal routines and Cia and Lana returned to the Valley of Seers to oversee the flow of time. Though the state of peace was nice, it was also brief. Due to the temporal distortions caused by the Gates of Souls that tore open pathways into the past, Hyrule was quickly thrown back into chaos as time began folding into itself, creating a new world where the past and present were not separated once more. Cia and Lana were helpless to stop this chaos, and the Triforce disappeared as the world once again became twisted. Gameplay The main gameplay of Hyrule Warriors and Hyrule Warriors Legends is retained for their sequel, including its hack-and-slash gameplay and the appearance of elemental attributes that are assigned to different weapons. Defeated enemies may also drop materials, which can be used to upgrade fighters, or other weapons for warriors to use. Unlike in Hyrule Warriors, Hyrule Warriors Legends, and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, the materials and weapons do not physically drop from defeated enemies, instead only being noted on the game's UI that the player has obtained them. Controls The game can be played with any controller compatible with the Nintendo Switch. Two players can connect two separate Nintendo Switch consoles to play together locally in story/Free Mode missions. Playing with a single Joy-Con is possible but not recommended, as, due to the lack of buttons, players are unable to perform certain actions that other controllers would allow the player to- such as moving the camera or switching lock-on targets. Through the pause menu, the player is also capable of summoning Armos to protect keeps, or commanding the other characters currently in their party. Attacking Hyrule Warriors II is an action beat 'em up spin-off of Koei Tecmo's long-running Warriors titles. Unlike many other games, but like the Warriors franchise, players must take on large hoards of enemies at a single time, as opposed to one-on-one or small groups. In order to combat enemies, players must use various combo attacks, primarily done through combinations of buttons. Every character has a unique weapon (or weapons, in some cases), each with its own set of combo attacks. There are two major types of attacks. There are standard attacks, activated by pressing , and more powerful "strong attacks" that can be be activated by pressing instead. Standard attacks do little damage, but can be chained together for combos, while the strong attacks end combos with more powerful attacks. Defeating enemies (or collecting certain power-ups) fills up the yellow Special Attack gauge. Once filled completely, pressing allows the player to unleash an incredibly strong attack known as a Special Attack. Special Attacks deal more damage than strong attacks, and usually cover an extended range. However, there exists a fourth attack that can be activated through the Magic Meter. Upon filling the Magic Meter completely, pressing the left bumper button allows the player to activate Focus Spirit. In Focus Spirit, the character's attacks and movements are quickened for a short duration of time, with every attack dealing 2x its normal damage output. After the Magic Meter fully drains, the character will activate an attack known as a Furious Force, though pressing any time during the duration of Focus Spirit can also activate a slightly weakened variant of this attack. The Magic Meter is filled by doing combos, with the amount filled being determined by the longevity of the combo. Another big part of the attacking process is the ability to lock on to enemies. Larger enemies with more health, or other Warriors, can be locked-on to. While locked-on to an enemy, the camera will rotate around so the player is always capable of seeing that enemy. Defending While attacking enemies is a large part of the gameplay, being defensive is also important as to conserve health so one is not defeated. Holding the right bumper button puts the player character into a defensive stance, which lowers the amount of damage taken as long as the guard is not broken by stronger attacks. Pressing at any point allows the player to dodge in any direction, which, if timed correctly, can be used to fully avoid taking damage from attacks. Holding simultaneously with a direction on the control stick also forces the character into a sprint. While sprinting through large hoards of weaker enemies, the chances of being attacked by weaker enemies are decreased, as their attack animations are usually slow enough to miss the player. Armos A new game mechanic is the ability to summon Armos to protect keeps. Only three Armos can be used in a single scenario, though they can be placed in different keeps or a single keep. Armos have high health and deal damage, but they will not respawn once defeated. Armos can be defeated by being attacked, with more damage dealt to them by attacking the jewel on its back, or by capturing the keep they are to protect. Armos can also be defeated using the Hammer item. When Armos are defeated, they will thrash about before exploding, with both attacks being able to harm members of all armies. Enemy commanders may spawn Armos in keeps that they capture or begin a scenario with; though this is seen near-exclusively in the Adventure Mode, with few Legend Mode scenarios featuring enemy Armos. Objectives The main objective of most scenarios is to capture specific keeps while defeating enemies. Keeps are small, square rooms scattered around the battlefield that continually spawn enemies for the army that controls it. Defeating enough enemies within a keep (displayed through a bar placed underneath the small map) will release the boss of the keep, which, upon defeat, will render the keep to the army that defeated them. Some scenarios will challenge the player to complete other tasks, such as defending keeps from giant Bombchu, protecting a Baby Cucco as it travels towards its mother, or various other tasks. My Fairy Adventure Mode War Quarrel Mode War Quarrel is a new multiplayer game mode where players can compete against each other in a basic type of battle. In War Quarrel, the objective is to take out the other player's commander, though it is structured in a way not dissimilar to many Adventure Mode missions: a player can not rush into their opponent's base, as they must defeat the other army's four enemy captains and locate their enemy's Big Key hidden in one of the keeps. War Quarrel lets up to two players to join each army through split-screen or LAN connectivity. Player one acts as the army's commander, and can also choose a second character to play as until the enemy clears the objectives required to open the gates of their base, while the second player controls a single warrior; if only one player is present as part of an army, they have the power to switch between these three warriors instead. Unlike the single player modes, all players have the ability to respawn should they be defeated, losing their Special Attack and Magic Gauge when they do so and also needing to wait a few moments before they can return to the action. Warriors Unlike previous Hyrule Warriors titles, Hyrule Warriors II limits all playable warriors to a maximum of three different movesets, and thus three different types of weapons; Link serves as an exception due to him also being able to wield the Master Sword in addition to three other weapons. All playable characters return from Hyrule Warriors Legends, as do all weapons. A variety of characters have been added in order to bring back every weapon from the previous games; for the most part, the attacks are identical or very similar to their original versions, though some may have been adjusted for their new users. While many titles in The Legend of Zelda series feature different incarnations of certain characters (Link, Zelda, Impa, etc.) between instalments, the characters present in Hyrule Warriors II are the same incarnations that appeared in the original Hyrule Warriors and its ports. However returning characters who were not featured within the stories of the previous titles (namely Young Link, Tingle, Medli, Marin, Toon Link, Toon Zelda, Ravio, and Yuga) do not reference the events of the previous stories and as such are treated as being "new" characters. There are six tiers of weapons. The tiers of weapons determine their general strength, as well as the general appearance of the weapon itself. In order of strength, the tiers go in order of: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level ★, Level 3★, and Level ★★. Level 3 and Level ★ are equal in strength, as are Level 3★ and Level ★★; the latter two are identical in appearance to the two former tiers, though essentially serve as a warrior's "ultimate" weapon. Finally, Level ★ and Level ★★ weapons are unique in that they are of a completely different elemental attribute than the other tiers of the weapon, and as such are the final versions of a weapon that can be unlocked. There are five different elemental attributes, and each of them can see greater benefits by applying the appropriate "Element+" skill onto a weapon. The elemental attributes and their different abilities are: : weapons deal more damage to large groups of enemies hit by consecutive attacks. Light+ weapons increase the time that the effect will stay active in-between consecutive blows, allowing the warrior to easily continue their Light-based attack chains when groups of enemies are defeated. : weapons cause enemies that have been knocked back to create small explosions when they hit the ground, which deals damage to enemies nearby. Fire+ weapons increase the blast radius of these explosions. : weapons cause bubbles to form around the heads of enemies, which deals slight damage over time. Water+ weapons increase the duration that the bubble will remain active, thus also increasing the amount of damage it will deal. : weapons cause enemies to take damage from lightning bolts while being juggled by a warrior's consecutive attacks; with more lightning bolts striking the enemy until they touch the ground. Lightning+ makes it easier to keep enemies juggled by knocking them upwards more than normal weapons would. : weapons deal more damage to a single enemy hit by consecutive attacks. Darkness+ weapons increase the time that the effect will stay active in-between consecutive blows, allowing the warrior to easily continue their Darkness-based attack chains when their target has been defeated. Returning Warriors All returning warriors now have at least two weapons at their disposal. New Warriors Soldiers Infantry Infantry make up a large majority of the units that appear on a map. These units essentially serve as cannon fodder, as they deal little damage to warriors and primarily exist simply to populate the battles. Bokoblin SS.png|'Bokoblin' BokoblinBotWSplotchless.png|'Wild Bokoblin' Bulblin TP.png|'Bulblin' MM GerudoPatroling.png|'Gerudo Guard' TFH Ghini.png|'Ghini' Goomba Artwork - Super Mario 3D World.png|'Goomba' OoT Goron Artwork.png|'Goron' BotW Guardian Scout I Model.png|'Guardian Scout' HW Soldier 1.png|'Hylian Soldier' ShyGuy.PNG|'Mask-Mimic' HWL Miniblin Artwork.png|'Miniblin' TP Poe.png|'Poe' Stalchild.png|'Stalchild' BotW Stalkoblin Model.png|'Stalkoblin' TP Staltroop.png|'Staltroop' BotW Yiga Footsoldier.png|'Yiga Footsoldier' ALBW Zora Underling.png|'Zora' Captains There are two types of captains that can serve in an army. The first type, "Infantry Captains", of captain are specialized infantry units, whose attacks are weak and generally serve as Outpost Captains or as the heads of squads of enemies that roam the map. These captains act almost identically to the normal infantry units, though they have unique designs, allowing them to be distinguished from the units they command. The second type, "Senior Captains", are unique enemies that are generally some of the more-dangerous foes one would face on the battlefield. Most of these unique enemy types have a weakness to one of the items the player can collect, which can disrupt one of their strongest attacks and cause them to flail about and damage their allies should any be nearby. Much like enemy warriors and Giant Bosses, some attacks will cause enemy Senior Captains to expose their Weak Point Gauge for a short time. Infantry Captains HW Bokoblin Captain Artwork.png|'Bokoblin Captain' BotW Black Bokoblin Model.png|'Wild Bokoblin Captain' HW Bulblin Captain.png|'Bulblin Captain' MM GerudoOrangeIntro.png|'Gerudo Captain' Giant Ghini OOA.png|'Ghini Captain' Galoomba - Mario Party 10.png|'Goomba Captain' HW Goron Captain Artwork.png|'Goron Captain' Guardian-scout-ii.jpeg|'Guardian Captain' BanditYNI.png|'Mask-Mimic Captain' HWDE Miniblin Captain Portrait.png|'Miniblin Captain' TP Poe (Arbiter's Ground).png|'Poe Captain' HW Stalchild Captain Artwork.png|'Stalchild Captain' TP Stalfos.png|'Staltroop Captain' Zoraoot.png|'Zora Captain' Senior Captains Other Units Giant Bosses Returning Bosses New Bosses Scenario Maps Returning Maps All maps return from Hyrule Warriors and Hyrule Warriors Legends, however not all are present within the game's story mode. New Maps Items * Bombs * Bow * Boomerang * Hookshot * Hammer * Ocarina * Potions Power-ups Collectibles Category:Action Games Category:The Legend of Zelda (series) Category:Spin-offs Category:Warriors Games Category:Sequels